Chapter 44: Unexpected Variable (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 44: Unexpected Variable (2)
‘Damn it, what the hell is…!’
I spun around, my dagger leveled.
The mercenaries I had just cut down were pushing themselves back to their feet.
‘Their eyes… they’ve turned red?’
Furthermore, the two men were emitting a bizarre, rattling sound. It wasn't human; it was closer to the rasping breath of an orc or a troll.
There was no time to wonder how this was happening.
The thin plate armor worn by the mercenaries—men who had been human just moments ago—began to bulge. Muscles expanded rapidly from within, tearing the metal apart.
Crrrk!
The instant their armor shredded, I instinctively cast a spell.
‘Silent Wind!’
A wind of pure mana instantly enveloped the warehouse's interior, forming a semi-circular barrier.
It was a 4-star spell that dampened all sound within a fifteen-meter radius. I hadn't used it earlier for fear the mages outside would sense the mana, but the situation had clearly changed.
A fight with these mercenaries-turned-monsters was now unavoidable. They were already lunging toward me, their fingers sprouting long, sharp claws reminiscent of the Red Tiger Tribe.
‘I can only hope the mages outside don't notice.’
Graaaagh!
The two creatures threw themselves at me simultaneously.
I didn't even have time to draw Bradamante. Closing the distance in an instant, they swung their clawed hands in a cross-slash.
Swish!
The sound of their claws tearing through the air was vicious. I narrowly ducked beneath the attack and, in that opening, drove my dagger into the ribs of the one in front.
I had aimed for the heart, but the creature dodged. Still, the distinct sensation of carving flesh and shattering bone traveled up my arm.
“Guh-urk!”
The monster let out a grotesque shriek.
It wasn't a fatal wound. Ignoring the dagger embedded in its side, it swung its claws again.
That gave me the opening I needed to create distance and draw Bradamante. As soon as I coated the blade in aura, the dim interior of the warehouse brightened slightly.
The creatures seemed to recognize aura as a threat. As I took a fighting stance, controlling the distance with the tip of my sword, the black fur covering their bodies stood on end.
“Grrrr…!”
“Gaaakh.”
The monster I'd stabbed finally ripped the dagger from its body.
What I saw next left me in utter shock.
‘It can even regenerate?’
I watched as its splayed ribs knit back together at a visible speed. The dark red blood that had been gushing out stopped in an instant.
Ultra-fast regeneration—a trait seen only in certain high-ranking monsters.
But these were not monsters. Not even a minute ago, they had been undeniably human.
Countless thoughts raced through my mind. I lacked the specific knowledge to make sense of this bizarre situation.
In my combined forty-three years of life, this was a first.
Fortunately, even if I couldn't fully understand it, I could deduce enough to form a hypothesis. My past life as a mage was the only reason I could even begin to guess what was happening.
‘There’s a high probability that these are Bio-Golems, created through forbidden magic. Those Zipple bastards… Are they using the Colon Ruins as a laboratory for forbidden magic?’
Swish!
The creatures attacked once more.
I'd barely dodged earlier out of pure shock, but now that I had my composure back, their movements looked clumsy. Their strength and speed were roughly at the level of a low 4-star martial artist.
However, there's a world of difference between a trained 4-star knight and a monster that merely possesses the physical abilities of one. I easily parried their claws and continued the exchange.
‘Dealing with them won't be difficult.’
They struggled to keep up with even my slightest feints, frequently tripping over their own feet and staggering off-balance.
‘The core is either the heart, the head, or the dantian. It has to be one of those three.’
A magical weapon like a golem won't stop moving no matter how damaged it is—just as these creatures continued their assault even after I'd slashed one's wrist and shoulder.
Instead, a golem is finished the moment its core is destroyed. That rule held true even for a Bio-Golem forged with forbidden magic.
Thuck!
I took a light step back and, with an off-beat rhythm, thrust my sword toward its head. Aura spiraled around the blade, punching a fist-sized hole clean through the creature's skull.
‘Not the head.’
If I had fought it like a human, I would have been in trouble. I would have assumed the blow was fatal and immediately turned my attention to the other one.
The golem with a hole in its head kept swinging its arms wildly. Its strength and speed hadn't diminished in the slightest. If anything, it had grown even more violent.
I pivoted, drove my sword into its dantian, then slid the blade straight up toward its heart. In moments like this, when I needed to execute an attack with such raw power, I was truly grateful for the blessed physique of a Runcandel.
Crunch!
A gruesome sound followed—flesh being carved and ribs snapping in succession. As I withdrew the blade, I was certain its core had to be the heart.
In the place where a heart should have been, a mass of blue mana was writhing instead.
However, it was entirely different from any mana mass I knew. It looked like a blue liquid encased in a glass-like sphere.
Moreover, it was incomparably harder than a human heart. Even after being struck by a masterwork sword coated in the aura of a 5-star knight, it felt like it had only barely shattered.
Splat!
The solid mana mass shattered, spraying blue droplets everywhere. An intense stench filled the air, and the monster, finally dying, began to slowly revert to its human form.
It was changing back… to its human form. It couldn't return to a perfectly intact state, not after its body had been so horribly warped. Skin and muscle that had already bulged and torn couldn't simply mend themselves.
However, the corpse, though withered and dry, was now clearly covered in human skin.
The sight sent a complex swirl of emotions through me, and a sudden, white-hot rage boiled up from the depths of my chest.
‘You did this to your own kind? Truly?’
It was rage directed at the Zipple clan.
As if responding to that rage, the remaining monster lunged at me. I hadn't yet fully reset my stance.
Skreeee!
An unpleasant screech rang out as the creature's claws clashed with Bradamante’s blade. I braced my right foot firmly behind me to hold my ground.
The creature's claws were hard, but not as hard as Bradamante. They seemed better than ordinary steel, but they were no match for ancient Ten Thousand-Year Steel.
Snap!
All five of its claws shattered at once, breaking the stalemate. As it stumbled forward, I stomped on its head, forcing it to the floor, and drove my sword through its back and into its heart.
The sensation of the hard mana mass shattering traveled up the blade. The monster pinned beneath me shuddered once, then, just like the first, its form rapidly reverted to that of a human.
“Whew.”
Only then could I let out a long-overdue sigh. I looked around. The area was covered in the creatures' dark red blood, and the Silent Wind I had cast was on the verge of dissipating.
Fortunately, the mages hadn't discovered me.
“K-Kill…”
Suddenly, a voice spoke. It was the man who had just fallen.
“Me… please…”
I hurriedly knelt beside him. He was still faintly breathing, but he was in a state that could no longer be described as human.
His entire body bore the marks of being grotesquely bloated and ruptured; there was no hope of survival.
There were so many things I wanted to ask him. Why he had become a Bio-Golem, who had done this to him, and how he had ended up as a Zipple test subject.
But the man had no strength left to answer. The only thing I could do for him was end his suffering.
Stab.
As I pierced his hideously distorted neck, the man's eyes fluttered shut.
I closed my own eyes for a moment and tilted my head back.
I didn't know their circumstances, but surely no human in the world would ever willingly become a Bio-Golem. Especially if it meant becoming a disposable weapon with no tomorrow the moment they transformed.
Grit. I ground my teeth so hard my jaw ached.
But now was not the time for anger.
An unexpected variable had thrown things off, and because of it, I had witnessed the horrific dark side of the Zipple clan. I even wondered if my sisters had truly known nothing about this.
But that didn't mean the mission was over.
If I went back now and said I had no choice because monsters suddenly attacked, my siblings would only mock me.
Even if Runcandel swallowed its pride, revealed the mission details to Zipple, and requested a formal investigation from the Viment Empire, nothing would change.
There was no way Zipple would ever willingly admit to using forbidden magic.
Creating Bio-Golems was a crime of the highest order. Normally, even the slightest hint of it would bring the full weight of imperial investigative agencies down on a culprit, but Zipple was a clan powerful enough to deny it even when faced with concrete evidence.
‘First, I'll collect a few pieces of the shattered mana cores. Then, I'll get back to the mission.’
A moment later, my composure restored, I placed several fragments of the mana cores into a glass bottle and moved toward the entrance to check on the situation outside.
‘…The mages still haven't made any particular moves. It’s proof that most of them believe this is just an ordinary warehouse.’
If the mages here knew that Bio-Golems were stationed inside, they wouldn't guard the warehouse so loosely. There would be at least twenty mages of 7-star rank or higher on standby at all times.
In other words, the entire Colon Ruins facility wasn't involved in the forbidden magic.
‘I’ll seize the artifacts and escape as planned.’
After that, I cautiously deactivated the boundary magic and searched the warehouse.
Obtaining the three stone tablets was child's play.
They were all stored on the first floor, and I found the bronze bowl quickly as well.
However, unlike the stone tablets, the bronze bowl was protected by a rather tricky boundary magic. It was designed to trigger the moment the bowl was removed from its display stand.
This specific boundary magic was what made the mission so difficult in the first place.
‘The standard approach would be to spend hours painstakingly unraveling the boundary magic like a complex knot, but…’
Vroooom.
I sheathed my sword and began to gather mana in both hands.
‘I'll go with a slightly more… explosive method. Since two men who were turned into Bio-Golems are now dead, no matter what kind of mess I make here, Zipple will…’
Whoosh!
The mana began to take on a fire attribute.
Then, spirit energy began to envelop the mana. Dark-tinged flames cast long shadows across the center of the warehouse.
‘…have no choice but to bury it quietly.’
Three small stone tablets designated as ancient artifacts and a single bronze bowl. Even if they were stolen, they were trivial items that Zipple wouldn't normally care about.
Nevertheless, under normal circumstances, Zipple would have been obsessed with catching the thief to protect the clan's prestige.
But the situation was different now that they risked exposing their use of forbidden magic to create Bio-Golems. Their first priority would be to downplay and cover up the incident at any cost.
‘Fire Explosion.’
Therefore, causing a ruckus would actually aid my escape. I'd set the entire warehouse ablaze and use the flames as cover.
Fwoosh!
The spheres of red mana in my palms rose into the air. Bolstered by spirit energy, they glowed with an ominous light.
As I finished the incantation, the two spheres of mana exploded simultaneously. The interior of the warehouse was instantly engulfed in flames, and the explosion caused the entire ceiling to collapse.
Wheeeen! Wheen!
In the aftermath, the boundary spells inside the warehouse began to trigger all at once. Ignoring them entirely, I grabbed the bronze bowl and slipped out through the main entrance.
Zipple would likely announce this incident as a mere fire.